Lissa Notreallywolf > Recent Status Updates

One of the aspects of this author I am most enjoying is the authors repeated observation that he would not have been the master gardener of Versailles in the current class structure of France. He laughs a bit over his college-educated entry-level gardeners who are book saavy but hoe stupid. From page 198: "The hand and the body take more time than the intellect." I love this.

My eyes are dragging in this book a sense of rising dread makes me want to drink something particularly potent. It's a lot like the feeling I got reading Affinity, you keep waiting for the bogey man's hand on your ankle.

My eyes are dragging in this book a sense of rising dread makes me want to drink something particularly potent. It's a lot like the feeling I got reading Affinity, you keep waiting for the bogey man's hand on your ankle.

This has been a tedious read, and yet I have persisted because of the intriguing period of history and the birth of alienism, now known as psychology. If you enjoy reading Darnton,the historian you may be interested in this novel. It is also about the origin of police intelligence and the post revolutionary archives, sort of the institutional equivalent of Marcel's memory.

This is complex and a densely paced novel about a depressive magician, Quentin Coldwater. Although it is about late teens it is adult in tone, and the delivery reminds me a bit of Mark Helprin.

This is an introductory text in the history of science, and I appreciate the refresher course, and his presumption that the reader has no grasp of mathematics. At the same time I am frustrated by the numbr of old chestnuts it hands down, like rats were the vector for the Bubonic plague which was the Black Death. In other words it digests a lot of old scholarship and preserves the lionization of Newton.

This is very exciting because he makes a convincing pitch for the World Wood Web, I think it's dubbed, the fact trees communicate and swap nutrients through their rootsystems. But the writing is geared for commuters reading in small packets, and I find it less developed than I might. Yet I will enjoy the bib when I get finishhed with the next three small bitesized chapters.

Perhaps I am allergic to what could be called drawing room novels, and I know I struggle with the epistolary form in novels. This is a tedious read about attempted seduction of a maid, by her smitten master. I am confused about Richardson's motives for writing the book aside from a desire to show off the letter as a literary form. I am reminded of The Pearl, a voyeristic book of porn I once dipped into as a teenager.

Another reviewer said it all-this book was written by a professional fireman, who was also a newpaper reporter, but the book reads like conjoined articles in a weekly paper. A better editor would have been a blessing.

Another reviewer said it all-this book was written by a professional fireman, who was definately an amateur writer. Tom Doherty apparently had someone help, but a better editor would have been a blessing.

One should either read the reviews before acquiring the book or after reading it. I find myself agreeing with many others even at this point in the book-it's a very personalized comprehension of Browne's life and work to the ends of the author. He lumps alternative medicine with astrology, which isn't respectful of Browne or the development of medical history, which owes it's roots to many competitive strains.

Breathless read, can't stop. I really liked the Minaturist, but this is a better book, perhaps because things aren't so confined. The Minaturist felt cramped and it was supposed to, and this book is about panoramas.Set at the outbreak of WWII and in 1960s London, we have a narrator dealing with racism and colonialism who writes short stories. She's gotten involved with a young man, Laurie, who has a painting...

Despite it's size , Pascua Yaqui is a sovereign world;I come here every Easter to watch an irresistable pageant combining deer dances with crucifixion...Religion of that kind can crack your mind open the way lightening splits a pine, leaving the wind to howl through the scorched divide. p 21

Robert Fludd, a fascinating doctor, is listed in The Foot Out of the Snare, (John Gee) a list of Catholics suspected or known to be living in London. He is also a prominent member in the College of Physicians. Charles I is the reigning monarch, inheriting the College from his father, James I who may have died under suspicious circumstances. Harvey was cleared of suspicion by royal recognition of Charles I.

There are far too many names in this story with similar actions to keep midful of what the individual is like through time. Woolley seems to be fascinated by the political aspects of history, who may have belonged to which faction. Although he does some exploration of the motives of the figures, but it falls flat in ceasing my prolonged attention. Smith came to an ignoble fate after a powder bag ignited his lap...

I want to note that growing up on the West Coast (US) I didn't get a lot of the history that people closer to the scene, so to speak got. We spent lots of time coloring maps of the thirteen colonies. The whole John Smith/Pocahantus story was probably seived in through some author-Longfellow perhaps? with the same accuracy of Washington Irving--NOT. Smith is a right b'tard in this telling, Pocahantus 12 years old.

I'm struggling with the large print edition of this book, it has justified margins and is surprisingly difficult to read dispite the increased type size. The paper is cheap and shows signs of thumbwear.
Aside from that I find that the language is more like a romance novel, perhaps in an attempt to reflect the period, the Civil War Era. I will happily finish it, and perhaps will read Mrs Lincoln's Dressmaker.

I'm halfway through this book and overwhelmed by the tedious examples. The book is over ten years old, and possibly dated in it's approach. A friend of mine tells me that in his elementary school homework is more limited than what this book describes. My own experience with homework came long before parental involvement was presumed. The yelling I do recall.

If you could see the preface and contents of this volume you might be more impressed by the progress. Ramism is why we have tables of contents, and such a dichotomized way of analysis. It's interseting that ramifications means to branch, and I have no idea as to whether the guy took his name from this or his name came to mean it. In a nutshell, that's what he's about. Big influence in New England thought.

If you could see the preface and contents of this volume you might be more impressed by the progress. Ramism is why we have tables of contents, and such a dichotomized way of analysis. It's interseting that ramifications means to branch, and I have no idea as to whether the guy took his name from this or his name came to mean it. In a nutshell, that's what he's about. Big influence in New England thought.

Lots of references to Sir Walter Scott's history of pirates, etc. Also helpful in understanding Jacobites.

This is an ambivalent read-I have questions about the historical accuracy of the descriptions of ancient brewing which seem to conflict with prior knowledge. Now I passed the statement that Carrie Nation died of syphilis, something I haven't encountered before. The book hasn't any footnote for this statement. Nation is not a personal hero of mine, but I still don't like this kind of unsubstantiated statement.

This was a book group selection I failed to finish before we met. It's interesting, a more current form of history and economic reality than my usual period of either American or European history. Because it was written before Obama was elected it has a weirdly dated and prophetic perspective-I would like to hear what Krugman would say of his work now.

I will not finish this book.

This is not the first time I have stalled out reading this book-I have a hard time keeping straight which of his subjects he is discussing despite their very different characters.